THE IMMORTAL'S FRIEND

Chapter 3: Memory Box

[7 years later]

Mira's POV

Miracle Iris Omari, that's my full name. Just like my first name, I've been waiting for a miracle to happen to me.

Since I was a kid, I have always had a weak heart so I grew up always getting admitted in the hospital. We have plenty of money, so the hospital bills aren't really a problem to us. Mom said that she would do everything to keep me alive and she doesn't care about losing all of our money just so I could live.

Having a weak heart is so hard. I can't be too sad and I also can't be too happy.

There's a lot of lists of what I should do and what I shouldn't do. I need to have a heart transplant surgery, but there's no donor that is a match for me.

I grew up getting so tired of always staying in the hospital. I want to go to school to find friends and have fun, but when I met Flare, a girl that is the same age as mine, I got a little happier and I also got to have much more fun than before.

Flare got admitted in the hospital because she has brain cancer. She looks so slim but her eyes are full of hope and her smile is always lively making everyone who sees her smile, smile too. She became my best friend and we always talk together when we are bored.

She's the one who always reminded me to never lose hope and cheered me up that one day, both of us will get out of the hospital healthily.

She was so sweet and I love how comfortable we are to each other.

She likes talking about stars so we sometimes go to the hospital's rooftop to watch the stars together.

She is like a sister to me. She is my best friend. Because of her, I started to look forward to my future.. Not just my future, but our future together.

I wrote a bucket list of all the things that I want to do with her once both of us are already healthy and we don't need to stay in the hospital anymore. I want to go shopping with her like what most friends usually do. I want to go to a carnival and try a lot of rides with her. I want to try skating with her and also snowboarding… I want to travel around the world with Flare.

I was too excited for that day to come, but that day will never come again when one day, I wake up, and she's already dead.

It was too sudden and until now, I still can't accept the fact that my one and only friend is already gone.

I couldn't believe that the future that I was looking forward to... all the things that I'm looking forward to do with her will never happen anymore because I already lost her.

The day she died, I cried a lot. The doctor said that crying hard was bad for my heart but I can't help it because it's really sad to lose my one and only friend.

I cried so hard that I passed out.

Mom said that I got a heart attack so I fell into a coma for ten days... When I woke up, I saw my mom's face smiling at me. The first thing I asked her was where Flare is. She looked hesitant to answer me, but she still answered my question and said that Flare got buried 3 days ago.

That's when I remember everything and I break down once again. Mom hugged me tight. She told me to stop crying because it's not good for my new heart.

I didn't know that I had already received a new heart and that heart was Flare's. I don't even know if I'll be happy or not. I don't want a new heart when that means Iosing my own friend.

Having Flare's heart is not in my future plan. I never wanted her heart inside me.

But there's no point in always being sad so I tried to accept the fact that she's already gone and started moving on. She will always be a part of me now. We are always one so I promised myself that I would live happily for her. We would live happily together.

As I move forward, I tried living normally as a simple teenage girl. I got enrolled in a school and studied hard. But just when I thought everything's going to run smoothly, another problem came to me and my mom.

Two years later after Flare's death, my body started to decline Flare's heart. I went back to the hospital and they said I needed another surgery.

They also said that even if I successfully get another heart and I go back to living normally again, after 2 or 3 years, my body might start to decline its new heart again.

That only means one thing : I am better off dying than to live changing a heart every 2 years.

I don't want Flare's heart inside me to be removed. But I also don't want to die. I want us to live together. I don't want to die and disappoint her. She gave me her heart because she wanted me to live. That's why I tried to think of a way to live without removing Flare's heart inside me.

Using my hand, I wipe the cover of the memory box where I keep some of Flare's things. I saw a picture inside. It was our picture and there, we were both smiling widely.

In an instant, my eyes got watery when I saw Flare in the picture. I just realized how badly I miss her.

I really really miss her. Should I just let myself die so I could see her?

But she wanted me to live… and I want to live for her too. If I die now, she will be sad.

Beside the picture, there's a book inside the box so I get it and read the title.

I remember this book. This is the book she always read before. We also talked about this book alot.

It's a book about vampires.

Flare told me that she believes that vampires exist. And they still exist until now because they are immortals.

I remember us talking about a certain place where we saw on the news that three students got bitten by a vampire. But I don't remember that place anymore so I got my phone and tried to search for a clip of the news on the internet.

It took me 30 minutes but with patience, I still found it.

The place was in Hagaya town. It's far from here but seeing the book about vampires and remembering my conversations with Flare before gave me an idea of what to do.

In order to live without removing Flare's heart inside me, I will find a vampire to turn me into immortal.

I don't know if It's possible to find a vampire that will agree with my conditions of drinking my blood without having any intention of killing me, but I can't just sit around and wait for a miracle to happen.

Without thinking twice, I decided that I will search for the miracle itself.

I won't let myself die because I promised Flare that I would do everything for us to live together... Even that means I need to hunt a vampire to drink my own blood.